How To Kill A Window Washer
by Synonyms4cinnamon
Summary: Let's get this straight. I wanted absolutely nothing to with the Host Club. Unfortunately, due to extenuating circumstances, it looks like I'm stuck with them for good. Maybe everything will work itself out, but knowing my luck, it won't. I'll just be happy to survive until graduation, but with the Host Club, you never know.
1. How To Kill A Window Washer

**Alright. I do not own Ouran High School Host Club, if it isn't obvious. Okay. Here goes nothing.**

I was running late. _Really_ late. As in if-I-don't-get-my-little-butt-moving-my-little-butt-will-fired late. I sprinted across the expanse of pavement ahead of me. I paused quickly in front of my destination to check the time. I could probably make it to the meeting if I hurried, but there was no guarantee. Boss was going to kill me if I wasn't there. I was his right hand girl. He couldn't do anything without me.

I jumped into the basket without thinking. I'd been washing windows at Ouran Academy for years, so the basket was like a second home. Surprised you, didn't I? You thought I was rushing off to some big important meeting to help my boss seal a deal. I wish you were right. In reality, the meeting is just the weekly maintenance staff Hanafuda game. Boss was like my grandfather. I always helped him win. He was hopeless without me. The new building on my route had thrown me off. That's why I was late.

The new window was wider that I was used to. The basket wasn't any wider, though. I had to swing it to reach the entire window. The bucket water was sloshing all over the floor, and it was hard to get good footing. I was on the fourth floor when the bell rang. Crap. Maintenance workers were supposed to be invisible. Those rich brats were supposed to believe that their insanely expensive school wasn't a pain in my butt to keep looking pretty. Oh well, I guess they were going to get a wakeup call.

I swung my way down to the third floor where the infamous Ouran High school Host Club was in session. Surprised I know of them? You shouldn't be. You would have to be deaf and blind to be a teenage girl on campus every day and not know of them. It was the first time I'd seen the club in action, and it seemed as unimpressive as I'd thought it'd be. It was a couple of minutes before I began to draw a crowd. Of course there was the one moron that had his face pressed to the glass. Who was said idiot? Why said idiot was none other than the "king" of the club himself: Tamaki freaking Suoh. What an honor. Note the sarcasm.

He said something, but I couldn't hear him. I just made a motion that indicated that I couldn't hear him through the glass as I swung past him. Instead of letting it drop, can you guess what the imbecile did? He opened the freaking window! How he got a twenty foot high, fifteen foot wide, stained glass window to open is beyond me, but he did it. It was only cracked, though. This made it the perfect ramp for the basket. While I was midair, there was a moment of weightlessness. In those few milliseconds, I managed to lose my footing on the soap and water that covered floor. My legs slid out from under me and over the side. I grasped one of the few bars that constituted a safety railing before I went over the side. My faithful basket and I flew off of the surprisingly strong glass and into a brick wall. In the moment of agony when my legs hit the wall, I forgot where I was and rushed my hands to my legs. By the time I remembered where my hands were supposed to be, I was falling toward the earth like a rock.

When I hit the ground, it was excruciating. I landed legs first, so my broken legs turned into shattered legs. Have you ever shattered your legs? No? It sucks. It really, _really_ sucks. To make it worse, I landed in the fountain. So not only did I shatter my legs but I also got soaked. Then, the weird dude in the middle of the fountain that's peeing for no seeable reason knocked the wind out of me. To top it all off I almost drowned in six inches of water, and that idiot Suoh had to save me. As I was lying on the pavement in agony waiting for a stupid ambulance that was taking forever to arrive, I glanced up at the clock. It was 4:30. I'd missed the Hanafuda game. This was officially the second worst day of my life.

The ambulance finally arrived, and I was rushed to the hospital. That's when I found out my legs were shattered. You know how a doctor sets a broken bone? With a shattered bone, you need surgery. It was a relief when they put me under. The pain slowly dissipated, and I fell asleep.

When I woke up, I was in a sterile, white room. There was no guesswork involved. I knew a hospital when I smelled one. What I didn't expect were the seven people in the far corner of the room. Correction: the seven _male_ people in the far corner of the room.

"I think she's awake," a dude with black hair and glasses said without looking up from his laptop.

"Really?" the blonde bimbo also known as Tamaki Suoh gushed. "Are you alright?"

"I fell off of the side of the third story of a building, because of _you_. I shattered both of my legs, because of _you._ I'm stuck in a hospital, because of _you_. Do _you_ think I'm alright? I'm freaking miserable. Did I mention this is all _your_ fault?" I seethed. He was taken aback by my sudden outburst. He tried to respond, but all that came out were incoherent stutters.

"You know," two ginger twins said at the same time, "She's right." That sent him over the edge. He fled to a dark corner and began to cultivate mushrooms or some other fungus.

"What's the verdict?" I asked no one in particular. The glasses dude decided to answer.

"Well, as you know, both of your legs were shattered so you'll be confined to a wheel chair for upwards of twelve weeks. Your left wrist is sprained, but it will only require a removable brace for about a week."

"What about my job?"

"If you don't mind cleaning windows in a wheel chair, then I see no reason while you have to stop working."

"I'm not stupid. What do I get in worker's comp, then?"

Just then, a man in a suit walked in. It had to be the maintenance head. I'd never met him before, but Boss and the others always talked about him. No one liked him, especially not me, but he was the key to my future.

"H-h-hello, sir," I stuttered.

"Hello. It is quite unfortunate we had to meet under these conditions," he sighed. "I am here to inform you that you will not be receiving any worker compensation for the accident. Under the circumstances, the board feels it is your fault the accident happened, not the school's."

"What?" I choked out. I was on the verge of tears. How was that freaking accident my fault? Without that money from worker's comp, I was going to be out on the street in days. Then, an even more frightening thought occurred: How was I going to pay for this hospital? I was too young to have insurance, and my parents' had run out for me when they died. I did have one other option, but that was a last resort.

I was escorted out of the hospital by a nurse. I began wheeling myself home. It was difficult with only one good arm, but hopefully I'd make it by dark. I heard footsteps behind me, but I decided to ignore them. As I began to turn the corner, they quickened. Soon enough, the king of dumb was in front of me. I was about to tell him off, when he bowed.

"I'm sorry about the accident," he said. "Would you let me wheel you home?"

I was still mad at him, but my arm was killing me, and he could be so dang charming. Apparently, the rest of the stupid host club was around the corner, because five seconds later, the entire host club was taking me home. I told them where to turn. As we got closer to my house, the frowns on their faces deepened. I was well aware that I lived in a bad part of town, but it wasn't _that _bad. I directed them to carry me up two flights of stairs to my apartment. I was about to close the door when glasses boy just had to speak up.

"I just realized," he said. "We know nothing about each other. Would you mind if we come in. It would be beneficial for our relationship."

"I want absolutely nothing to do with any of you," I told them, bluntly. "Now if you don't mind, I have things to do." With that, I slammed the door in their faces. I sighed and made my way into my kitchen. My kitchen was like the rest of my apartment: old and run down. There was an old refrigerator, a sink that backed up when the toilet flushed, and a trash can. A mattress in the corner was my bed. An ironing board served as a wrinkle remover and a table. Through an open doorway was the bathroom which consisted of a leaky toilet and a shower that never had any water pressure. I had a huge closet, though. It's called the floor. The only new thing I owned was my laptop, but that had been a gift. I didn't have much, but I was losing it all. That's when the automatic self-pity reflex kicked in. It hadn't activated in a while, but it came with a vengeance. It was nearly a week before I moved out of my kitchen.

_***Six Days Later***_

"Hello?" someone called from the other side of the door.

"It's open!" I called back. In came seven guys. If you're not a complete idiot, you've figured out which seven.

I saw their faces drop when they walked in. They probably were trying to hide it, but they were terrible actors.

"Princess!" the idiot screeched. "What are you doing living in such poverty!"

"Enjoying it while I still have it," I muttered bitterly.

"What do you mean by that?" glasses dude asked.

"I mean, that without workers comp I'm going to lose all of this. The electricity's gone, and the running water shuts off next week. I lose this place in a month. Even then, I'm a bazillion yen in debt because of that stupid hospital."

If it was possible, their mouths dropped more. It was as if the stupid little rich boys couldn't grasp that I was losing everything. They were too absorbed in throwing parties that they never _ever_ cleaned up. I know firsthand, because I usually got roped into doing it with Boss and a couple others. That meant overtime for nothing extra, since Ouran didn't actually care if its employees were paid fairly.

"I won't stand for this," the idiot king said indignantly. "You are coming with me!" Then, He took my wheelchair, and took me right out of the apartment. The stairs were a killer. He didn't have the common sense to have someone help him take me down, so I was basically being wheeled straight down the stairs. There was a limo waiting for us there. Of course the pretty boys couldn't be caught in this neighborhood. Well, this time I couldn't blame them. They would probably get mugged in a minute.

"Where are you taking me?" I shrieked.

"To my house, of course, princess," the idiot king said. He was about to say something else when glasses dude spoke up.

"Now, what did you mean by 'losing everything'?" he asked.

"Are you deaf?" I said. "I meant in a month I have nothing but this wheelchair, the clothes on my back, and the pile of debt you so graciously bestowed upon me."

"Yes, but you understand that those expenses were necessary for your survival, correct?"

"Yes, but many of the tests you had them run were not. A diabetes test, really? As far as I understand, I was sent to an Ootori hospital and you are an Ootori. It must have been nice to take from the broke and give to the ridiculously rich, right?"

"How do you know who I am?" he asked.

"I could spot an Ootori from a mile away," I hissed. "Same perfect hair, same evil eyes, same smug look of superiority. It makes me sick."

The others looked as though I was the first person to leave him speechless. He just glared at me. I didn't even flinch. Eventually, he looked away. I was victorious.

"It's not like it matters anyways, I'm suing the school for more than enough to pay for everything."

"WHAT?!" seven guys screamed at once.

"I'm suing the school for about eight billion yen."

"On what grounds?" Ootori asked.

"A) Not giving me any workers compensation for an injury that was caused by faulty, outdated equipment that hasn't been replaced in over thirty years, B) Not paying minimum wage for the past fifty-three years, C) Not paying for overtime, ever, and D) Physical, mental, and emotional abuse. Need I say more?"

They were silent. I suppose none of them ever thought that Ouran was anything but wonderful. The limo then stopped in front of the Suoh estate. It was the second estate, but it was still fricking huge. What could possibly be in there was beyond me. Maybe they had a zoo. Some elephants would sure cheer me up. Maybe a giraffe. I love Africa.

Unfortunately, the mansion did not contain a zoo. It was just a bunch of boring rooms. We were in what I assumed to be the game room. Everyone except for me was on a couch. There was a pool table, several video game consoles, and an air hockey table spread out across the room.

"When can I go?" I asked.

"I will not allow you to live in such conditions!" the idiot cried. Ugh. I was never getting out of here. Then, my brain graced me with an amazing idea.

"Have any of you ever heard of Hanafuda?" most of them raised their hands. "Okay. We'll play a game. If I win, I get to go. If any of you win, I stay the night. Deal?" they all nodded their heads in agreement. Suckers.

Not fifteen minutes later I was getting a ride back to my apartment in a limo driven by a nice old man. The idiots hadn't stood a chance. If they weren't stupid enough for challenging me at a card game, they'd let me use my own cards. Their loss. The nice driver helped me in to my apartment before I was finally left alone.


	2. How To Win A Lawsuit (Part One)

**Okay. Next chapter coming up. I actually have this written in advance so I'll be pretty consistent with updating on Sundays. On to the story. Oh, and I kind of screwed with Yuzuru Suoh's character a bit to make him more likeable and Tamaki-ish. Please don't hurt me.**

**I still don't own Ouran.**

If I had any chance of winning this lawsuit, I needed to get the rest of the maintenance staff on my side, which is why I guilted the idiot into taking me to school with them the next day after he took me home.

The limo pulled up at about seven, and a knock on my door followed shortly afterwards. I yelled that it was open, and the club came in. I was carried down the steps and placed into the limo. The ride was awkward and silent, but ended pretty quickly. Once I was on the school grounds, I was left to my own devices. I made my way slowly over to the maintenance room, which was inside the clock tower.

The first person I ran into was Sora. She was about twenty and extremely nice. I spoke to her briefly and won her over almost immediately. She was more than willing to testify against Ouran. I thanked her and asked her if she could call a couple of the guys to get me up to Boss. If I won him over, everyone else would follow willingly. Sora called down two guys I'd seen around, but never really talked to to carry me up.

Boss was easy enough to find. All I had to do was follow the smoke. He was sitting in his usual chair in the corner acting like a chimney. I'd tried on multiple occasions to get him to stop the filthy habit, but he never listened. Seeing him, I was almost brought to tears. He'd been like the nice, crazy grandfather I'd never had. He wasn't as overjoyed to see me.

"You sure have some nerve coming around here after what you pulled," he growled. His thick eyebrows were pulled together.

"I was kind of busy falling off of a third story window basket," I hissed back.

"Why should I care?" he responded. "You cost me nearly 3,000 yen."

My head bowed and my voice lowered. "I'm sorry," I choked. "I really am. But I have something that will make it up to you five times over."

"What could that be?" he asked.

"I'm so glad you asked," I said with more confidence as I lifted my head. "I'm suing Ouran for everything its worth. You've worked here for over fifty years, Boss. You know things have never been right around here. The equipment is crap, we're underpaid, and you know what happens if we're late, or miss a window, or do anything wrong."

He flinched at the last sentence. I could see the fire in his ancient eyes, though. That's when I knew this was going to work. With Boss on board, I couldn't fail.

"What kind of payout are you offering?" he asked.

"At least 3,000,000 yen per worker."

"Are you taking any of this?"

"A small portion. Maybe 1,000 yen. You know where I come from and how much money that is for me."

"I do," he sighed. "And that's why I know you'll win this for us. When do negotiations start?"

"As far as I know, this afternoon. Suoh's keeping it all under wraps."

"I don't blame him. What, with this fancy school on the line."

"Yeah, his idiot son's giving me a ride over after classes end."

"Whose side is he on?"

"He's too stupid to have a side," I told him sincerely. Then the clock chimed eight times, and the room shook. "Looks like it's time for work."

"Yeah, I'm trimming the maze today," he said with a sad smile. He had been a gardener for years, and not a day went by that he didn't spend hours trimming the maze. I was pretty sure that he was the only person that could go through it without getting lost.

"Hey, what day is today?" I asked quickly.

"Friday. Why?"

"There's a Hanafuda game this afternoon," I smile. "And a perfect opportunity to mention the lawsuit."

"You're an evil genius," he laughed. "Well, I guess I better get going."

"Don't hurt yourself," I said before placing a light kiss on his head. He stood up, grabbed his shears, and walked out of the room. Now I just had to busy myself for another seven hours. There was only one thing I could do: play cards. If there was one thing my father had taught me how to do it was how to play/cheat at cards. My father had never been a very moral man, but compared to the rest of his side of the family, he was a saint. Compared to my two uncles (assassin and pimp) and my three aunts (illegal weapons dealer, drug smuggler, and cat burglar) being a card shark was a legitimate way to make money. He quit professionally when I was born, but that didn't stop him from teaching me the tricks of the trade. Since everyone else was working, though, I had to settle for a nice, clean game of solitaire.

I played, and won, at least fifty games before Kyo and Riku came in. They were the two gardeners that actually ate lunch in the maintenance room. I greeted them distractedly while I studied the cards in front of me. I didn't really pay attention to them until they switched topics from the new petunias to Riku's birthday present from his sister. It was _the _smartphone of the year. It hadn't even been released yet, but I guess his sister was pretty high up in the company, so they gave her two in advance. It put an idea in my head. A devious, beautiful idea.

"Hey Riku," I chimed. "Would you help a girl out?"

"Anything for you," he responded.

"Great. I'm going to need your phone, Riku, and you two are going to need to come with me." They complied, carrying me down the steps and pushing me across the campus. I took pictures of everything. I had them do a few poses, but nothing too major. We were done in half an hour, and I had them take me back. I thanked them once we were back, and they left to go tend to the flowers. That's when my real work began.

I whipped out my laptop and hacked into the school's Wi-Fi (a nifty trick I learned from my aunt Lucy, the thief). Once I was in I took Riku's phone and plugged it in with the cord he'd given me. I downloaded the pictures, did some research, and threw together a quick presentation.

Right as I put away my computer the bell tolled four times and people began to stream into the room. I was greeted and given condolences and told how Kyo's cards weren't nearly as nice as mine for five minutes straight. Then, Boss came in and we knew everyone was there, because Boss was always the last one in. We all took our respective seats around the round table in the corner. I looked around, and it struck me for the first time that a campus as large as Ouran High was kept perfect by only fifteen people, including me. There were eight gardeners, three people that managed trash, three that swept and shined and basically maintained the inside, and two window washers. Well, make that three, now. I could see the poor bloke they'd hired to replace me to my right.

"Alright," I started halfway through our third hand, "I have something everyone needs to hear."

Everyone was paying attention, for I normally only whispered into Boss's ear during games.

"Everyone here knows, or will come to know," I said glancing at the new guy, "that Ouran is not a gracious employer. You all know of the injustices we suffer daily. Usually, we are quiet, but not anymore. As you've probably know, I fell from a third story window basket exactly one week ago, leaving me with severe injuries. Since then, I have been informed by Ouran that I will not be receiving a penny from them in compensation. All of you also know what happened _him_ almost a year ago. I-I have decided to take matters into my own hands. I'm suing Ouran for everything their worth, and I would be honored if you would consider testifying."

"I'd love to," Sora said again. Since she was on board, Mizuki, Kai, and Kana were in, too.

"How do you know you're going to win?" Tankana asked. "If you lose, we're all out of jobs."

"I'm better at the law than I am at cards."

"That's not a guarantee," he hissed.

"That's where trust comes in. How long have you known me, and how many times have I twisted someone's words to bite them in the butt?"

There were assorted mumbles of agreement throughout the room. I'd been working at Ouran since I was twelve. These guys had been like my adopted family. They knew me.

"Fine," he grumbled. "But you better win."

"I will. So it's settled. You're all on my side and Boss wins." There were confused looks. Then, Boss slapped down his hand, and there were resounding groans.

After the game, I had a couple of the guys carry me down and push me to the curb. The idiot club was waiting for me right alongside their idiot king. I said goodbye to my friends and waited for someone to put me in the stupidly long car.

It ended up being tall dude. I was pretty sure he was the only one who could lift me. I was overweight, but I was tall enough that the right clothes hid it well enough while giving me nice curves.

Apparently, Suoh was having the proceedings go on in his office. I don't know why I was surprised, but I was. It wasn't that long of a ride until the Suoh mansion. I didn't really expect it to be. Why have to drive half an hour to get to your job when you can buy a mansion right next door?

I was carried out of the car and up the steps by some unlucky butlers. I kept apologizing the entire way. I couldn't help it. I felt terrible. When we got to the top of the steps, I insisted that they put me down, but they insisted that they wheel me the rest of the way. I begrudgingly complied.

Mr. Suoh and his lawyer were waiting for me. I entered his office with as much dignity as I could muster. Luckily, Ootori had taken my wrist brace back, so I had two free hands. I saw the lawyer physically wince as he looked me over. I smirked. Maybe this was going to be easier than I thought.

"So, Miss," the lawyer began. "Why are you suing Mr. Suoh?"

"I have already stated this," I said. "His maintenance workers are underpaid, overworked, are beaten if we're late, and our equipment is ancient and faulty."

"Do you have any proof?" he asked.

"I'm _so_ glad you asked," I told him, while reaching into the pocket on the side of my wheelchair. I pulled out my laptop. I quickly opened the presentation and flipped the computer around. I flipped to an image of Riku standing by the fountain I fell in.

"This is Riku," I said. "He's one of your workers. This is him standing normally." I changed to the next slide. "This is him in the basket I fell from." This image showed Riku in the accursed basket with most of his six foot four inch frame outside of the basket with a standard squeegee in hand and still being a good three feet from the edge. "If he can't reach the edge of the window, how could I have? I was forced to swing the basket to reach. Now, if I'd had a longer squeegee like this," I flipped to a picture of an extension squeegee, "or a wider basket like this," I switched to a picture of the new, wider model basket, "my accident could have been avoided."

"I see…" Mr. Suoh mumbled.

"Also, this is what one of us look like if we mess up in any way," I said. I pulled up a picture of Takeshi after… I can't even think about it. In fact, when I saw the picture, I broke down. Tears started silently streaming down my face. They both noticed, but no one said a word.

"Any ways, these figures show the maintenance hours and pay versus standard hours and pay. The pay statistics are startlingly low, and the hours statistics are startlingly high. If you look through your books, you will find the same statistics."

Suoh looked like he'd seen a ghost. Apparently he had no idea what his subordinate did to us. His eyes changed in that moment. They turned from the hard eyes of someone who was protecting his school from false allegations, to the eyes of a concerned father protecting his child.

"What do you want?" he asked.

"I want you to give a 3 million yen payout to every maintenance staff member, excluding myself, you to fire the current head of maintenance, and give me my worker's comp before I lose my apartment."

"That's it?" he questioned further. "After everything?"

"As far as your lawsuit goes, yes. Now, I'm suing your head of maintenance for murder, but that's a different story."

"Alright," he said. "But you said before you lose your apartment. Where are your parents?"

"Dead," I dead toned.

"Then you just must stay with me."

"Sir?" I asked.

"There's plenty of room in my second estate. That's where my son lives."

"It's a kind gesture, sir, but I don't think I can-"

"And another thing. How have you been going to school with these hours?"

"Um, actually…" I muttered.

"That settles it!" he exclaimed. "You are going to Ouran!"

"But sir-"

"I'll go do you paperwork immediately!" Then, he rushed out of the room in a flurry. Like father like son, I guess. I glanced apologetically at the lawyer. He'd barely said a word, or rather, gotten a word in edgewise. I packed up my laptop, and rolled down the hallway. I found the Host Club down the hall a bit.

"How'd it go?" Ootori asked stoically.

"Tamaki's father is even more of an idiot than he is. He insists I live in his second estate and go to Ouran. Neither of which I am going to do."

The smile on Tamaki's face vanished and was replaced by a look of udder distraught. He immediately dropped onto his knees, hugged my waist, and begged me to live with him. The two twins, whom I still couldn't tell apart, called him a pervert and tried to pull him off of me. He was a persistent little bugger, though and held on. Eventually, his high-pitched whining nearly shattered my eardrum, and I gave in. I told him I wasn't moving in until I won the case against the maintenance head. That man was going to pay.


	3. How To Win A Lawsuit (Part Two)

**I do not own Ouran High School Host Club. Not even close.**

Normally, I would have represented myself, like I did with Suoh, but this case was different. Since this was actually going to court, it would probably look better if I had a puppet head. Also, I'd rather not have a break down in the middle of making my case. I ended calling up Suoh's lawyer. He looked intelligence and probably would have done a good job if Suoh wasn't a sentimental moron. He agreed to a preliminary meeting. That was good enough for me.

Tamaki's driver agreed to take me to the meeting. He'd become like my chauffer as well, and I felt bad about it. Since there were no annoying, idiotic hosts to bug me, I sat up front and talked to the poor guy. Turns out that he was really nice. He asked what I was suing Mr. Hinora (the maintenance head) for. I told him my sob story, and he actually understood. He must have been at least sixty, but I suppose he remembered his youth. When I started crying halfway through, he took one of my hands in his and comforted me. I was done crying by the time we reached the building. He wished me luck and helped me out of the car before going on his way.

Once I was in the building, I rolled my over to the info desk. I talked to the lady there, and she gave me a badge. I didn't like her very much. She was too short. She only waved her hand to her left when showing me to the elevator, as if getting up were too much of a problem. It took me at least fifteen minutes to find the extremely well hidden elevator. A few minutes later, I was in the lawyer's office.

"So what happened that makes you want to sue Mr. Hinora for murder?" he naïvely asked. I told him the same thing I told the driver. I cried, again, which irritated me to no extent. Instead of comforting me, he got a hard look in his eye. "We're going to win this case. Do you know anyone who would be willing to testify?"

"I have the entire maintenance staff. There's fifteen of them."

"Perfect," he said. "I'll deal with sending in a formal letter to him and arranging court dates. Just leave it to me, and I'll see you in again in a week, okay?"

"Alright." It didn't take as long as I thought it would. I had a good forty five minutes before the driver, whose name I really needed to learn, would be there to pick me up. I could have called him, if I had a cell phone, but I didn't, so I was stuck. That was when I saw the sign for an indoor skate park. Cue idea.

Despite being pushed everywhere for most of my existence in a wheelchair, I'd actually gotten pretty good at wheeling myself around. Having other people do it for me was just me being lazy. That's why, once I was in the skate park, surrounded by those ramps, I went crazy. I jumped and swerved and made all of those skater punks jealous. I hadn't felt that free in years. I warmed up a bit on small jumps, then I moved onto the half pipe. I had some friends I'd made help me up, and I was set free. I was going so fast and flying so high and doing it over and over again. It was absolutely exhilarating.

As with every good high, a crash comes soon afterward. And did I _crash_. The chair tipped over when I tried to do a flip midair. The chair went flying in one direction and I went straight down. My legs, still in their casts, hit the top of the ramp, and the rest of me hit the ramp itself. I stayed bent over at the waist like that only for a moment before I tumbled head over heels down the ramp. I ended up stopping when I rammed head first into my chair. It hurt almost as much as falling out of that basket, but this time it was my fault.

The stand-by medics were already racing across the huge room, dodging skateboards and people on their way. I was just really glad I'd dropped my stuff in a locker before I started. My laptop would have been totaled. I had a nice reunion with my friend the stretcher and his wife the ambulance, and they took me back to their place: the hospital.

It was another Ootori. It was like they owned every hospital in Japan. Actually, I knew this wasn't true, but I seemed to find myself in quite a few of them. I got a nice room and a very familiar doctor took me into surgery. The anesthetic was nice, and it knocked me out surprisingly fast.

When I woke up, there were seven people in the far corner of the room. Sorry, make that six male people and one oddly boyish female person. Talk about de ja vu. Those seven people just turned out to be seven annoying hosts and Haruhi. Tamaki immediately began to flip out. I went to hit him upside his head to shut him up, but my arm was unnaturally heavy. One glace to my right showed my arm was covered in a cast.

"Please don't tell me," I began.

"That you broke your arm in four places?" Ootori cut me off. I groaned. Now I couldn't even get around on my own any more. If that wasn't enough, I found out that I had been assigned a body guard. Actually, I got a seven for one deal, because wherever their idiot king went, the rest were sure to follow, like Little Bo Peep and her sheep.

They took me back to my apartment, which I'd gotten to keep thanks to worker's comp. Apparently, Suoh Senior was giving them each one of them a day off a week to watch me. They'd have to make up their work, but no one seemed to mind.

The first week went pretty smoothly. I usually just ignored them and worked on my laptop. The twins were irritating, but even they got discouraged after a while. I went to my meeting with the lawyer. Mr. Katachi, the really nice driver man, drove me and Ootori, who just happened to be watching me that day. Thankfully, this wasn't going to be one of those cases that take years to go to court. Our court date was in a week. It was sooner than I'd expected. The case that was supposed to be presented that day had been thrown out when the defendant died. My lawyer had gotten his foot in the door quick enough that no one else could take the day.

The week went by in a blur of preparations and tears. It was really happening. He was finally getting justice.

The twins picked out my outfit for court. If there was one area in which I trusted them was fashion. They were raised by a fashion designer after all. It was a simple white, button-down shirt and a navy skirt. I had Haruhi help me into it. It hadn't taken me long to figure it out once I got to know her. She crossed her legs, was girlishly thin, and she just so happened to fall on me on her way to the kitchen one day, so it was pretty obvious.

It was tough to get over my casts, but we did it. My left sleeve was too tight, though, so we had to cut it off. Overall, I looked nice. The navy skirt went with my navy casts, and the blouse accented my tan skin.

The limo ride seemed to go on forever. There were cameras and reporters surrounding the courthouse. Everyone wanted to get a shot of the poor girl suing a rich man for murder. I was jostled and shoved inside, where there were no cameras in my face and no shouting. I took my place by my lawyer and saw Hinora across the aisle. The judge came in, and the proceedings began.

The first day was given to Hinora. His lawyer stated how _his_ death wasn't Hinora's fault, and how he _never _hit employees. All of which were lies. I couldn't count the number of times I'd had to patch up one of my extended family because of him. I stopped paying attention after about ten minutes of listening to that squirrel of a man. I started to daydream, and before I knew it, it was over.

The reporters basically attacked me. I got hit on the head with more microphones than I care to remember. The club followed me into the limo. Of course, they also just had to follow me into my apartment. Then, for no reason at all, I broke into tears. I didn't sob. Tears just started flowing down my face. Little did I know then, that it would be the first of many tears to come in the next days. Eventually, after many a failed consolation attempt, they left. I fell asleep after that. I just fell out of my chair, collapsed on my mattress, and passed out.

I was awakened by two ginger demons poking my face. I really wanted to throttle them, but three casts wouldn't let me. Instead, I let Haruhi put me into today's outfit (which looked a lot like yesterdays). The twins did my hair and makeup, much to my displeasure. Then, it was down the steps and into the limo.

The same crowd of reporters was there, plus about fifty hundred more. Today was the big day. My testimony was coming up. If it was possible, even more microphones were shoved in my face as I made my way inside. I think there were police people there, but I couldn't be sure. I just let the hosts get me inside.

The interior of the courthouse was the exact opposite of the outside. It was quiet, calm and peaceful. There were no reporters, no crowds, and most importantly, no microphones. I took my respective place beside my lawyer. He smiled at me and gave me last minute pointers on how to testify. Then the judge and jury came in, and the proceedings began.

I didn't pay attention. It was overwhelming. It seemed like we were doing well judging by the jury's sympathetic faces. Suddenly, I was being wheeled to the front of the room. This must've meant that all of the other workers must've already testified. I was the last to go, the clincher. I was stationed in front of thee stand, since I couldn't go up the step. I took a deep breath and began my sob story.

"I was twelve when I started working at Ouran. My parents had just recently died, and I was trying to make my way in the world. The first person I ran into was Takeshi. He was a year older than me. He was tall and handsome. He was the one that walked me to my interview and my first friend there." Suddenly, it was like it was happening all over again. It was like I really was twelve and scared and cried myself to sleep every night.

"When I was accepted, he was the first to congratulate me and the first to tell me things weren't right. I didn't think anything of it at the time. Then, I started seeing his bruises. When I asked him about them he just said, 'I told you things weren't right.' I started seeing him more, and taking care of his injuries. Well, what more can I say?" I smiled sadly and began twisting the silver band on my right ring finger.

"He was, no, he is the love of my life. He gave me this ring on my fourteenth birthday and said that the second I turned eighteen I could move it over to the other side." Great, now I was crying softly and twisting my ring and watching how the tiniest little sparkle in the middle of the band caught the light. "You can't imagine how I felt. It was like I was Cinderella and he was my prince. Then one day, he didn't show up for work. He was taking care of his mother. She was sick, and it was going to be a day before his dad was back in town. He was a gardener, you see, and he cut the grass on the soccer fields. Practice had to be canceled since the grass wasn't cut, wh-which is a really stupid reason, if you ask me. The next day, Hinora called him into his office. When, he didn't show up by the gates to meet me, I got worried.

"Th-that's when I found him. He was just tossed on the ground like a rag doll. A bloody, bruised rag doll. I-I had to half carry-half drag him to a hospital. When I got him there, they ran tests, and th-they said that there was n-nothing they could do for him. H-he was bleeding too much internally. I t-took him to my apartment, since it was closer than his. I took care of him for three days. He c-couldn't move much and I-I did my best, but it wasn't enough. I held him every night, you know? He said it helped. I didn't believe him, but I did it anyway. He died in his sleep. In my arms." I was bawling now. We had expected for Hinora's attorney to question my testimony, but he remained silent. If I had looked up from my ring for a second, I wouldn't have seen a dry eye in the room. Everyone from the people watching in the back of the room to the judge and jury were crying. Even Hinora and his attorney let a few loose.

I was wheeled back to my spot by my lawyer. The judge pounded his gavel and the jury disappeared through a door. I was still looking at my ring through tears. I couldn't stop crying. I thought there was limited amount you could cry, but I must be an anomaly. People began milling around, and the Host Club made their way up to me. I guess I am normal, because the tears had stopped, but sobs still racked my body. Tamaki's eyes shined with tears as he gave some long speech I didn't really pay attention to, the twins were drying their eyes with hankies, and Honey was bawling as hard as I was. Even Mori let down his usually stoic expression and let a few loose. Of course, Ootori had his mask on, and I wouldn't expect anything less.

The jury came back out just two hours later. Their verdict was guilty, and I started crying again. This time they were tears of joy, though. It was finally happening. He was going away for life. He couldn't hurt anyone anymore. I could tell Takeshi was smiling down on me. He was probably laughing and telling all of his new friends about how his little Italian spitfire had finally gotten him justice after nearly a year. I could almost feel him standing next to me as I watched Hinora escorted away by two officers.

I didn't have much time to think about how relieved I was, because Tamaki had come up with an idea. They were taking me out for ice cream to celebrate my win. If they weren't blind they would have seen that I wanted to be alone, but they were, so I let it go. We pushed through the throng of people, and I was placed into the waiting limo. Then, we were off.

**I know. More tragic backstory. Ugh. I know it's really cliché. Don't kill me.**


	4. How to Not Keep a Secret

**I don't like this chapter. Not at all. Oh well. I still don't own Ouran.**

They took me to this high-class ice cream parlor in a part of town I'd only ever heard of. It wasn't the ice cream stand I was used to by a long shot. That was where Takeshi used to take me. He liked chocolate and I preferred vanilla, so we'd always just get a twist because it was cheaper. He'd eat the chocolate, I'd eat the vanilla, and we'd split the cone down the middle. Those were the days.

Now, I was sitting on polished red vinyl politely eating my vanilla cone while the others chatted away. They were talking about some crazy lady name Renge, and then she popped up out of the floor on this big turning thing. These rich people were crazy.

"So, when are you moving in?" Tamaki asked. I nearly choked on my ice cream.

"What?" I asked.

"You said that you would move in and start at Ouran after the case. The case is over, so when are you moving in?"

"I'm not doing either."

"Why not?" he whined.

"I don't want to be a burden and I can't go to Ouran."

"Why can't you go to Ouran?" he asked in that irritating voice of his.

"I have a job that I can't quit, and I can't have a job and go at the same time, so I'm not going."

"What job might this be?" Ootori questioned.

"I've run the family business since my parents died," I monotone. "It's kind of a big deal."

"Really? What business would this be? A laundromat?" he remarked.

"Hey, what did you say your name was?" Honey asked.

"I didn't."

"Then what is it?" Hikaru and Kaoru asked at the same time.

"Kala, like the mother gorilla in _Tarzan_. The Disney one," I told them, and got blank looks in return.

"Kara?" they responded.

"No, that's my sister."

"Older or younger?" That was Tamaki.

"Not telling, and what's with the sudden interest in my family life?"

"Aw, why not?" one twin pouted.

"We won't tell," the other said. If I was going to be spending more time with them, which I desperately hoped wasn't true, I was going to need a way to tell them apart. I loved my brain, for it came up with the perfect idea.

"You," I said pointing at a random twin. "I'll tell you and you can tell the other one, deal?"

"Why Kaoru!" the other one protested.

"Shush, you'll get to know, too," Kaoru said. He leaned into my ear to hear what I had to say. Instead of telling him, I uncapped the bright blue sharpie I always kept in my pocket and drew a star on his forehead. His face was priceless. He tried to rub it off, but it didn't work. Oh, how I love you, permanent marker.

"You're going to pay for that," he hissed. Then, both he and his twin began to tickle me. Something I usually keep well hidden is that I am extremely ticklish. I was howling almost immediately.

"Just tell us if your sister's older and younger and it all stops," they chimed together. I held on for as long as I could. I'm not proud that I broke, but I had to.

"Older," I panted. The torture stopped and they just looked at me.

"Older? How much older?" This talking at the same time thing was freaking me out. I shook my head, and they started again. Again, not proud of breaking down, but I am abnormally ticklish.

"Three minutes." That seemed to quell their curiosity. I straightened my shirt, and continued to eat my ice cream. Then, I heard Ootori gasp. At least, that's the best way to put it. It was barely audible, more of a gasp-thing than an actual gasp. That one gasp-thing would change my life forever.

"What is it Mommy?" Tamaki asked. I wasn't even going to ask about them 'Mommy' thing, but I was wondering what was so shocking to make the most stoic person I'd ever met gasp.

He turned his laptop around for us to see, and my heart dropped. It was a picture of me beside a picture of my sister. Hers was from a runway show she'd done a couple months back, and mine was from a video chat I'd had with my uncle Ted over the summer. You could barely tell we were related with what she'd done to herself. I slammed the laptop closed with my good arm.

"Get me out of here," I hissed. They obeyed and got me into the limo before piling in themselves. Renge had disappeared back into her magic hole shouting something about plot twists. I was too distraught to pay attention.

"You have some explaining to do, Miss Santorini," Ootori said.

"Get me to Suoh's and I'll take questions," I mumbled. I was ruined. Five years of hiding ruined by two devils and a know-it-all.

"We're here," Ootori said closing the door behind him. We were in some kind of game room at Tamaki's mansion. "Now talk."

"What of?" I asked, feigning innocence.

"Let's start with why one of the richest people in the world was living in absolute poverty," he told me.

"I was hiding."

"From what?" Honey asked with wide eyes.

"Not what. Who," I sighed.

"Who then?" Tamaki questioned.

"Ootori," I hissed. All heads immediately snapped around.

"What?" he said, bored.

"Not you, your father. I cannot count the number of times he has tried to kill me. If I even set foot in America I have assassins knocking at my door with their guns. I have nothing against Japan, but I really miss home, you know? Before I can even consider going to Ouran, I need to know that I won't get shot in the middle of history."

"Kyoya!" Tamaki yelled. "How could your father do such things?"

"Business is a murderous game," he said simply.

"Yes, one could just ask my parents to find the truth in that statement," I spat.

"Why?" Honey asked innocently. "What happened to your parents?"

"Their car was blown up by a car bomb. It was in the middle of negotiations with the Ootori Group strangely enough. I was waiting in a hotel for them to come back. If Yoshio had been a little bit smarter, he would have realized that I was doing most of the managing of the company by then. Instead he killed two innocent people. I never even got a card."

They just stared opened mouthed at me. Was it really so odd that I was managing a multibillion dollar company at ten? My mother was a doctor, and you know what my dad did for money. Frankly, I was good at it, so that was what I did.

"Wait," Haruhi started. "Why would Kyoya's dad kill two people?"

"It's simple," Ootori told her. "The Santorinis run the most widely regarded medical company in the world. Tamara Santorini started it while she was in college in Italy. It started as a medical clinic in her apartment. Then, she rented out a building. This turned into a small chain of buildings over time.

"She'd always donated a portion of her profits to charity. As her company grew, so did her donations. She always kept her family at a middle class level. Eventually, she began her own charity that dabbled in everything from helping those in Africa to animal abuse. Donations poured in. All of which were donated to the requested fields. As of right now, the Santorinis have high-class hospitals, small clinics, and free clinics throughout the world.

"The Ootoris still have the majority of Japan, but destroying or at least weakening the Santorinis has always been a dream of my father. By killing the two, he hoped to do just that, instead he did exactly the opposite. Support came flooding in for the three orphaned children. When one went missing, that support tripled. That's why he would kill."

"Yup," I sighed. "And now I can't even go to school without fearing for my life."

Then, Mr. Suoh burst into the room. "Your paperwork has been filed!" he chimed. "I just need to know your name and have you sign and it's done. You'll still have to take the placement exam in a couple of weeks once it's drawn up, but other than that, I'm sure you'll do fine."

"I'm sorry sir, but I can't go. I have a job that I can't quit, it's the family business. So I can't."

"Then we'll just have to make an exception Miss…?"

I took a deep breath and said, "Santorini."

"As in _the_ Santorinis?" he breathed.

"Yeah…"

"Well, then I am a very lucky man to have you under my roof. I'll need to increase security at the school, too. Ootori will have a field day when he finds out. I must leave you now there are things to be done. Oh, and you can go and pick out your room. You can go get your things tomorrow. Now, I must be off!"

He then proceeded to dash out of the room with one arm out like a super hero. I think he got an eleven out of ten on the Tamaki Scale of Stupidity. How he managed a multimillion dollar corporation was beyond me. Then again, if a kid can do it, why can't a grown man that acts like a kid do it?

I was then whisked away into the land that was the mansion. I was dragged into one room after another after another. They were all nice and had a conjoining bathroom, but none really felt right. They were over furnished, painted in rich colors, and had huge windows. I declined one after another until I saw an almost hidden door at the end of the hall.

"What's this?" I asked. I had Mori barge me through the door without waiting for an answer. Inside, was a suite of sorts. There was a small, furnished kitchen, separated from a couch and TV by a counter. There was a wall of windows and a balcony on the far side of the room. Through a door on the left was a nice bedroom which connected to both a walk-in closet and a bathroom. It was like a nicer, better version of my apartment.

"I want this one," I said definitively.

"I didn't even know this was here," Tamaki gaped.

"This must be where you grandfather kept his mistress before your grandmother killed her," Ootori remarked. "Seems like your father kept the place cleaned up."

"But my room's next door," Tamaki said. "How could I not notice this?"

I paled. "Next door?"

"Yeah, we just passed it."

"Ugh," I moaned. I loved this place, but I wasn't sure I could handle being right next to the idiot while I slept. I was going have to put up with him anyways, though. Screw it, I was keeping this room. Since it was now my room, I swiftly shooed the boys and Haruhi out and locked the door. I was going to need to change the locks on my door, but that could be handled later. Right now, I was just really tired, so I changed awkwardly out of my court clothes and crawled into my new bed.


	5. How to Make an Idiot Flip Out

**This is mostly filler. Meh. I still own nothing but Kala and some other people.**

The next morning, I was rudely awakened by seven people talking unnecessarily loud at an ungodly hour. Couldn't they just let me sleep? Apparently not, because two annoying gingers started poking me. Ugh, I really needed to get my locks changed. I sat up in bed and looked at them with bleary eyes.

There was a collective gasp in the room. What could possibly be so shocking about me waking up? Oh, right. I'd shed my clothes last night before getting into bed. I still had my underwear on, but they probably hadn't expected to see me in nothing but an old, ripped bra from the waist up.

"Haven't you ever seen a girl before?" I sighed as I stretched. Normally I would have shrieked and hid, but it was too early for such overreactions. Apparently, Tamaki didn't think so.

"Little sister!" he shrieked. "Don't expose yourself like this to a group of boys. Especially those demon twins! What would your parents think?"

He kept rambling on in flip out #1 of that day, but I didn't pay attention. Instead, I said, "Haruhi, be a doll and help me get dressed please."

The boys eventually left with Tamaki still talking. Maybe I could get him a muzzle… Haruhi did as she was asked, and it was quite easier to squeeze me and my casts into the fabric the second time around. We met up with the guys outside of my room ten minutes later. I'd combed through my bed head with my fingers and was chewing on a piece of gum to hide my morning breath.

We made our way into a limo and down to my apartment. I wasn't taking much. I could do without a lot of that stuff, and no doubt I would be taken shopping later. I was carried up the steps by none other than Mori. When he set me down, I unlocked the door and was pushed inside.

"Can you guys get the clothes off of the floor?" I asked. They nodded and began picking up my second carpeting. I had myself pushed to the kitchen by Mori. I grabbed a shoe box off of the counter and asked Mori to give me the book from the cupboard above the fridge. He reached up and gave me the album. I smiled as I opened it. It was full of pictures of me and Takeshi. I'd get disposable cameras practically every week and take a million pictures of us.

"Who's that?" a twin asked. A glace up to his forehead proved it to be Kaoru.

"Takeshi," I sighed. It felt good to see him again. His green eyes and bright smile made my heart fly into my throat. I hadn't been able to see him in weeks, since I couldn't reach the cabinet from my wheelchair. My reminiscing was interrupted by a Tamaki shriek

"What is it, Boss?" Hikaru asked from across the room.

I had Kaoru turn me around to see what was the matter. Crap. I forgot I still had those. Tamaki was in shock, so the rant hadn't started yet. I could see everyone's eyes go wide as they realized what he was holding: an opened box of condoms. There was a collective gasp and two sly smiles from the twins as they grabbed it from their shocked king.

"Kaoru, how many does it say this box holds?" Hikaru asked his twin.

"Ten," Kaoru replied.

"And how many are in their?" Hikaru questioned.

"Three!" Kaoru laughed. If it was possible, Tamaki went paler, then cue rant #2.

"How dare you do something like this! Don't you know you're supposed to wait until marriage? To think, my little sister was defiled like this! How could this slip past me?"

There was more but I tuned out. I didn't know why he was flipping out. I mean it's not like I was a slut. I fell in love. Besides, it isn't like I did it before he proposed. Yet, he was still ranting about innocence and his little sister. Wait, when did I let him start calling me that? Oh, right. I didn't.

"WAIT!" I hollered. "Why the heck are you calling me you're little sister?!"

"He does it to everyone," Haruhi mumbled.

"Really? Then it's hopeless…" I sighed. If Tamaki had a habit, I wasn't going to stress myself out worrying about it. At least he'd stopped ranting now.

"Come on," I said. "Let's go back. We have what I need."

Mori put his pile of clothes on my lap and carried me down the steps. Most of my stuff was thrown in the trunk. I didn't really care. It was mostly just dirty clothes. I held onto the album and the shoebox, though. I wouldn't dream of letting go of them.

Once I was loaded into the limo, I began to feel more relaxed. It wasn't as hard as I thought to leave the apartment behind. I guess it's because it was always temporary. Nothing important ever happened there. I lost my virginity in an abandoned music room at the school. Takeshi didn't want it to happen in one of our crappy apartments. It was abandoned and it was pretty and it worked.

We went straight back to the mansion after that. We went through the whole maneuvering me around the mansion routine again, and my stuff was dropped on my floor. I was exhausted even after that, but they had more plans in store for me.

We then got to put everything into my beautiful walk in closet. All of my clothes didn't even take up one wall. I could tell that they were shocked. I wasn't. I didn't like clothes that much. I practically lived in my uniform. I wore those royal blue jumpsuits all of the time. They made up a third of wardrobe, actually.

"Do you even own a skirt?" Kaoru asked.

"Nope," I said.

"A dress?" his twin questioned.

"Nada."

"That's it. We're going shopping," they chimed together.

"But I don't wanna," I whined.

"But you can't move, and we can!" they yelled. Then, I was being rushed down the hall at warp speed. I was shoved down the steps, and magically went out the door and flew perfectly into the waiting limo. I swear these people are magic.

The rest of them came down at a leisurely pace. My chair was loaded into the trunk, and we were off. The idiot was yapping about all of the dresses he'd have me try on. I would have pointed out that it was practically impossible to get me into anything but my jumpsuits, which I'd been wearing since the accident, except for my trials, but I didn't feel like it.

Worst of all, they took me to a mall. I have never shopped at a mall in my life. We always either went to Good Will or boutiques downtown depending on whether Mom or Dad was taking us. (Mom preferred saving money at Good Will, while Dad liked to feel rich at the boutiques.) I'd always been curious, but never _that_ curious.

"Why are you taking me here?" I asked as we pulled into the parking lot. "Aren't you more accustomed to designer clothes?"

"Yes," Kaoru said.

"But we figured that we'd ease you out of poverty," his twin continued.

"We didn't want the culture shock to kill you," the starred twin finished.

"You do realize I was rich at one point, right?"

"Yes, but that was years ago," the twins said. They really needed to stop this talking at the same time thing. "Things have changed."

"Besides," Tamaki chimed in. "You never really got past the middle class, anyways."

Wow. He really was stupid. You don't comment on something like that. I didn't say anything, but I had a response. Oh, he was going to pay for that.

As soon we got into the complex, I saw the perfect store to our right. I pointed at it and demanded to be taken there. Everyone turned a little green, even the twins and Ootori. Mori wheeled me right over. I think it was kind of an automatic response from being ordered around from someone shorter than him for so long… Not that I'm talking about the bossy midget at all…But really, is he a cousin or a babysitter?… Okay, I'm done now.

Anyways, Mori rolled me into the store, and the rest followed like mindless sheep like they always do. Maybe they should be the sheep club instead… That's irrelevant now, though. So I was browsing through the racks when I found the perfect outfit.

"Hey Tamaki," I called. "What do you think of this?"

He turned around and his mouth, along with just about everyone else's, hit the floor. I didn't blame them considering what I was holding up. It consisted of a deep purple corset with black lace and ribbons, frilly black panties, black fishnet stockings, and a black garter.

"I think that it is completely inappropriate for my little sister to even consider wearing! What will everyone think of you!?..." There was more to rant #3, but I'd become a master at tuning the idiot out by that point. I waited until he'd gotten to the part where he said no one in the family would ever be allowed to wear anything even resembling "that monstrosity" to tell the punch line.

"Really? I thought Haruhi would look really cute in it." That shut him up. Both he and Haruhi turned bright red. Tamaki started stuttering. This opened up a window for the twins to torment him. He proceeded to rant once again (#4), but this time it was on the topic of his feelings for Haruhi being purely parental. Yeah, right. Oh, what a stupid blind idiot.

We ended up leaving the store without buying anything. I was dragged around the mall. They bought me a couple pairs of jeans and some T-shirts before we left. It was obvious that the gingers wanted to get me more, but I denied them. The rest of the host club was dropped off before Tamaki and I headed back. He helped me put away my new clothes, but I could tell he was still mad at me for the stunt at the mall. I didn't apologize. He deserved it. Before I went to bed, I caught a glimpse of the date. It was the fifteenth of November. It was almost time…


	6. How To Make Thanksgiving Dinner

**Again, a lot of filler. Hope you don't mind. Also, I won't be updating for the month of November. Thought I'd let you know in advance.**

This was going to be difficult. Normally I had two arms and legs and three other people when I made Thanksgiving dinner. It was the eighteenth of November, and I was in my room. Alone. Everyone else was at school. My paperwork was still processing, because they had to place me. Of course, I'm fifteen, but the rich idiot known as the chairman decided that since I didn't go to school for years I should be moved down a grade. They didn't have an academic aptitude test, so they were guessing at where to put me. I was hoping for 3-A, but with those people you never know.

So back to Thanksgiving dinner. My mom always made a big deal about giving back to the community. On Thanksgiving, this meant rallying the family and cooking an outrageous number of complete Thanksgiving dinners and handing them out at various local shelters. I hadn't done it since I went into hiding, but since I now had the means to, I didn't see a reason that I shouldn't. I was basically immobile, though, so I was going to have to ask for help. Lucky for me, I had a house full of people who were supposed to do what I said.

I slowly rolled myself over to the door and the intercom. I reached up, pressed the button for the maids' chambers, and asked for someone to take me to the kitchen. A minute later, there was a knock on my door. The maid opened it and wheeled me out. Since the only elevator in the mansion was the dumbbell used to get food from the kitchen to the dining room, plywood had been laid down on half of the abnormally wide staircase. It sure was easier to go down than steps.

The kitchen was just to the left of the entrance. Inside I was greeted with the familiar sight of a Hanafuda game. Oh, how I love the Japanese working class. I just had to smile when I saw them freeze. Apparently, they weren't supposed to be playing cards when Tamaki wasn't here. They all looked worried. One word from me could result in the loss of their jobs.

"What are you waiting for?" I asked. "Deal me in."

They physically relaxed. I was wheeled over to an empty spot on the table, and they dealt me in. They were all really nice. I didn't cheat the first couple of hands, but it was killing me. I broke after three hands. I couldn't help myself. I'd never not cheated at a game of cards. Needless to say, they lost.

"So," I began. "I have a favor to ask of you."

"What is it?" Makoto asked. He seemed to be their leader. He was kind of like Boss in a lot of ways.

"Well, my family always made extravagant dinners around this time of year for the less fortunate. I haven't been able to do it for a while, and you can see what my obstacle is now. I was wondering if you would mind helping."

"We'd love to," Makoto said. "What kind of dinners are we talking about?"

"I'm so glad you asked. A full turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, green bean casserole, yams, mashed potatoes, corn, rolls and butter, wine, pumpkin rolls, and both apple and pumpkin pies."

"I have absolutely no idea what half of that stuff is."

"Well, I have recipes upstairs. It'll take me a couple of hours to translate them, but I believe we can start tomorrow."

"We'll be waiting."

I had the maid, who had been awkwardly standing there the entire time, take me back up to my room. I needed to start translating my mom's recipes into Japanese if we were going to finish before Thanksgiving. I hated translating. It was terrible. I didn't care if I knew both languages. It was a pain. Thankfully, some guy took into consideration lazy people, like myself, and created Google Translate. How I love that program.

Anywho, I spent hours going through my shoe box full of recipes and typing them into the translator. Since I did know the language, I could spot errors, but it was mostly right. Either way, it saved me work. And I do realize this makes me sound extremely lazy, but I had a men's American size twelve shoebox filled to the brim with tiny note cards. Would you honestly want to translate over three hundred recipes from English to Japanese? Unless you're some kind of nut, except peanuts because they seem quite sane, the answer is no.

Thanks to my genius friends at Google, I was halfway done by the time the idiot came home. How do I know? He flew right into my room and proceeded to tell me every miniscule detail of his day, oblivious that I was doing something. I really needed to change those locks.

"Hey, Tamaki," I said.

"Yes?" he responded automatically.

"A smart, good-looking guy like you knows English, right?" I prayed I wasn't laying it on too thick and he wouldn't notice that the compliment was completely fake.

"Of course, my darling," he cooed.

"Good," I said, dropping the awestruck voice I'd been using. "Then translate these into Japanese."

He looked at the stained recipe cards I shoved at him like they were aliens. I then shoved a set of clean cards and a pen at him. He seemed to catch on then to what he was supposed to do. He had to ask me about a few words, but my friend Google Translate helped him out. Like I planned, we were done by midnight. As soon as we were finished, I shooed him out of my room. He had school in the morning, and I didn't like him in my room.

The next morning, I got dressed in one of my old uniforms. I'd gotten better at dressing myself with three casts, and it only took me half of an hour to get the one-piece on. I then proceeded to call a maid to take me to the kitchen. The staff was already waiting for me.

"Hey, guys," I said with a smile. "Who's ready to cook?"

They all nodded with enthusiasm. I passed out notecards to delegate tasks. I felt useless and bothersome in the middle of the floor in my bulky chair. Then, they started asking me for my approval. I guess it wasn't that weird, since probably none of them had ever had a traditional Thanksgiving dinner, but I still felt extremely flattered. I was rolled all over that kitchen and probably ate an entire Thanksgiving dinner while I was at it. By the time the idiot got home, there were twelve full dinners lining the counters of the huge kitchen. Needless to say, there were going to be some happy families this November, despite the fact Thanksgiving was over a week away.

"What is all of this?" he asked stupidly when he found me in the kitchen three hours later.

"This is me winning for the sixth time in a row!" I shouted slamming my cards on the table. The kitchen staff groaned and tossed coins my way.

"No. What is all of this food for?"

"It's my fall charity. All of this food is going to families and people in need. It's a family tradition. I have the list all made up, but I was waiting for you before I left so I didn't have to bother someone to take me up the stairs."

"We shall leave at once!" he proclaimed and then wheeled me off at warp speed.

"Bring the food, guys!" I called over my shoulder at the kitchen. I doubted they heard me, considering Tamaki's long legs, but twelve men carrying huge stacks of Tupperware containers proved me wrong. I had to sit in the front of the limo, and the back was so full of food that Tamaki was barely able to move. Even Mr. Katachi had a container of home-made cranberry sauce on his lap.

I gave directions to Mr. Katachi, who willingly obliged. I could see Tamaki in the rear-view mirror getting paler as we moved further into the bad part of town. The houses began to get more and more decrepit and thugs began to appear on the sidewalks. I gestured for Mr. Katachi to pull over in front of an old apartment building.

"Okay, this is our first stop. A woman lives here with eight children she can barely feed, since her husband died. She gets two of everything. The dishes are color-coded by Tupperware. Have fun," I said.

Tamaki and Mr. Katachi each grabbed a ton of different colored bowls and made their way up the stairs. Tamaki rang the doorbell with his elbow, and a young woman with a baby on her hip opened the door. I could tell she was crying as she beckoned the two in. They came back down minutes later with smiles on their faces.

"That woman was so sweet," Tamaki said. "Where to next?"

"We have a couple more private residences and several food banks to hit yet. We'd better get started," I said.

The limo started up again and we were off. We went to several families, but the majority of our stock went to eight different soup kitchens. The Japanese might not celebrate Thanksgiving, but a hot meal never went under appreciated. A surprising number of people actually hugged Tamaki. After the fifteenth time, he stopped flinching. That is until someone stole 6,000 yen off of him during one of those hugs. It was kind of his fault, anyways. Who carries that kind of money on them when they're surrounded by people barely scraping by? An idiot, that's who. And my point is made.

It was dark by the time we got back to the mansion. I told Mr. Katachi to go and get some sleep, since he is quite old. Everyone was exhausted. Apparently, the idiot was so exhausted he forgot I existed. He walked inside and left me out on the driveway. I tried screaming, throwing rocks, and the like, but it was nearing midnight, and everyone was already asleep. I was going to have to spend the night out here, and I was going to freeze. I was still in my old, threadbare jumper, which was just as good as nothing in the November night. I was actually getting used to the bite in the air, when the universe, which is a proven Kala hater, decided to let loose a torrential downpour.

Now, I was cold, wet, and my casts were going to need replaced. This was great. I threw my head back, and screamed as loud as I could at the sky. In the back of my mind I suppose I'd entertained the thought that maybe, someone would hear me, but the rain was so loud that I could barely hear myself, so how would someone deep in the mansion hear me? Well, the universe must've felt bad for being such a jag off to me for just about ever, because the front door opened.

I could've cried I was so happy. A minute later, Shima, that glorious woman, came out with an umbrella.

"Miss Santorini, what happened?" she asked.

"Tamaki left me out here when we got back. I've been out here for hours. Thank you so much, Shima," I rushed out, not bothering to correct her for calling me "Miss Santorini."

"It's a good thing the rain woke me up, then. Now, let's get you inside before you catch your death."

She rolled me inside and up to my room. Once we were both inside my suite, she immediately began to run a warm shower and strip me of my soaked clothes.

"You really don't have to do this, Shima. Go back to bed." I told her.

"I usually wake up at about this time, anyways. It might not seem like it, Miss Santorini, but it's nearly five o'clock in the morning."

"That's impossible. I haven't been out there for that long."

"You must have fallen asleep and not remembered it. The shower should be ready now."

She eased me out of my chair and onto the bench in the shower with surprising ease for an old woman. The water felt amazing. I slowly got feeling back in the arm that was actually allowed to get wet, as if my casts weren't already soaked. I could feel the padding chaffing my leg under the tarp I had to protect my legs and beneath the plastic bag over my arm.

"I'll make an appointment for your casts to be replaced this morning, Miss Santorini," Shima told me as she lifted me out of the shower to dry me off. After I was toweled off and changed into a pair of loose pajama pants and an oversized T-shirt, Shima left me alone to sleep. I highly doubted her belief that I had fallen asleep outside, because I was out as soon as my head hit the pillow.

It seemed as though I had barely closed my eyes, when a familiar high-pitched whine filled the room. Have I mentioned my locks need changed?

"Little sister!" he yelled/ whined. "I'm so sorry I left you outside last night! I was so tired after helping all of those people that I forgot! I'm so so sorry! Will you every forgive me?"

"Yes. Just let me sleep and go to school," I groaned. He squealed, kissed my cheeks, and, thankfully, left. I closed my eyes again and passed out.


	7. How To Cheat Death

**You miss me? I took November off so I could actually do things and it worked! Here's the next chapter. I should be updating regularly until at least the spring… or at least I'll try. So… Yeah… Chapter… Enjoy!**

I woke up feeling considerably worse than when I went to bed, and that is saying something. My head felt like it was full of cotton, and my limbs felt like lead. Shima was standing over me, telling me that we had to go to my appointment to get my casts replaced. I groaned and rolled over to my chair. I didn't feel like changing or brushing my hair or even putting on shoes. I just had Shima roll me to the limo as I was.

She gave me to Mr. Katachi, and gave him instructions to go in with me. We were going to an Ootori hospital, and we know how much they love me there. I slept the entire ride to the hospital, well almost the entire ride. About halfway there, I was awakened by a deafening explosion coming from the body of the limo. Mr. Katachi swore loudly and pulled over to the side of the road. Most of the body was gone. The only thing that really survived was the floor. It was amazing that the cab hadn't gone up too.

"I'm sorry, Kala," Mr. Katachi said. He was the only member of the staff that had given into calling me by my first name. He was even getting good at pronouncing the "l." "We just got this limo back from the shop. Mr. Ootori must have paid off of the mechanic to install that explosive. I'll call you a different car."

"Thank you, Mr. Katachi," I smiled. "At least no one was hurt."

"Yes, you're insistence on sitting in the front has seemed to pay off," he said once he got off of the phone. "The car should be here in about fifteen minutes."

"Mr. Katachi do you have a family?" I asked after a long silence. "I don't mean to seem rude, but you're just always around."

"I don't mind. I have three grown children and my wife passed nearly ten years ago," he replied.

"My condolences about your wife. What are your children up to?" He smiles and looks down at me.

"They're all incredibly bight. Midori is the oldest, and she's in England. She's quite the lawyer. Represents a number of large firms over there. Ki is my son, and he is a detective in Tokyo. My youngest is Murasaki. She's a robotic engineer. I'm not really sure where she is right now, because she bounces around so much. They all still keep in touch, thankfully."

"They sound lovely. If you don't mind, what was your wife like?"

"She was amazing. She loved colors. That's why all of my kids' names are colors. She used to tell me one of the reasons she even started dating me was because my name was a color. It really isn't, but I let her keep believing. She just adored colors," he told me. Then, he laughed sadly.

"What is it?" I wondered.

"It's ironic, really. She loved colors with all of her heart, but she went blind when she was young."

"That's horrible."

"Yes, I suppose it is. She never minded, though. Oh, here is the car."

To my surprise, it actually was a car. I'd never seen a Suoh vehicle that wasn't a limo. There's a first time for everything, I guess. Mr. Katachi helped me into the passenger seat before getting in himself. The rest of the ride went smoothly, if not awkwardly. The man who drove it here sat in the back, and I didn't feel comfortable talking to Mr. Katachi in front of him. Thankfully, he stayed in the car when Mr. Katachi escorted me into the hospital.

"Kala," he breathed in my ear as we walked through the doors. "If anyone tries to pull anything, scream as loud as you can. I'll be in the waiting room and I'll hear you."

I didn't bother to ask how he'd know if it was me or where I was. I just nodded. A plump looking nurse took my wheel chair from him, led me through a maze of halls, and pushed me into a sterile, white room. I was then quite abruptly picked up and plopped onto a cushioned bench. I was told to wait, and wait I did.

I seemed like forever since the nurse had dumped me here. I'd already read all of the magazines in the on the table beside my prison and played myself silly with the toy cars there, as well. The only thing left to do was count the number of holes in the drop ceiling. 3,892, 3,893, 3,894- SLAM!

Ugh. I was almost done. Of course, the stupid doctor had to choose now of all times to come and change my stupid casts. Wait. This didn't look good. Instead of the normal little saw thing, he was holding a syringe in one had. I could tell his mouth was distorted in a creepily big smile behind his surgical mask, and he seemed to be quietly laughing.

"Don't worry," he said. "It will only hurt for a second, then it will all be over."

I didn't care if Mr. Katachi's instructions didn't make sense, the creepy doctor guy was reaching for my good arm and I was freaked. I screamed the loudest, most piercing, girlish scream I could muster. I must have lasted for about six seconds before the doctor's hand was on my mouth, and the syringe was nearing my arm. I did the only sensible thing: I bit the hand on my mouth until I drew blood. It was immediately removed, then replaced when it hit me hard across the face.

"You insolent girl," he hissed. "Just stop fighting and this will be a lot more pleasant for both of us."

Once again the syringe approached my arm, but I let it. Silent tears flowed out of my eyes. I gave up. It was no use. Despite what Mr. Katachi said, my scream hadn't helped at all. Then, I heard a click.

I looked up to see Mr. Katachi with a gun leveled at the doctor's head. "Get away from her," he hissed. The doctor obliged. He was led into the hall at gunpoint to the awaiting arms of three police men.

Mr. Katchi then came back to get me. I was led into a similar room with an incredibly less creepy nurse doctor who had to be fresh out of med school. Mr. Katachi stayed with me while she switched out all of my casts. I could see his gun tucked into his pants beneath his jacket, but I highly doubted the doctor could.

"Okay we're done," she chirped. "Let's try not to get those wet again, shall we? Now, what kind of lollipop would you like?"

On the way back to the mansion, I sucked happily on my orange lollipop. The guy in the back of the car was gone, but we still didn't talk. Neither of us wanted to discuss what I had just barely avoided. Is suppose I should have been crying, but Ootori had tried to kill me in so many creative ways, the shock had been lost.

When I got into the mansion, I was immediately escorted up to my room. I didn't mind. I was exhausted. I fell into bed and promptly passed out.

When I woke up I felt terrible. I called Shima on my pretty new cell phone and asked her to bring me up some cold medicine. I was not leaving this bed today. I didn't care if the flipping mansion burned to the ground. Someone would have to carry me out. I was lightly dozing when Shima came in. She gave me the medicine and left me to rest.

I was resting quite successfully until Tamaki came home. He crashed into my room and proceeded to tell me every miniscule detail of his day. Apparently, I was hot news around the school, and no one could wait until I got there. I couldn't see why I'm completely unextraordinary. He probably told them I was a magical fairy princess or something of the like. After a half an hour of talking my ear off, he went back to his room to do his homework.

I was just getting back to being relaxed, when I heard glass shattering and felt an incredible amount of pain in my forehead. I didn't care if I had previously promise I was not getting out of bed. I rolled onto the floor behind the bed. I heard three more bangs and then silence.

Tamaki burst into the room seconds after the last shot had hit the wall. He looked around the room frantically, before seeing my shaking form on the floor. He immediately picked me up and held me on the bed. I was sobbing by this point. I know I said that the shock had lost its affect, but I'd never been shot at before. I'd been bombed, poisoned, strangled, beaten, and pretty much anything else you can think of, but I'd never been shot at. Besides, that bullet hurt. I was pretty sure I was getting blood on his jacket, but I really didn't care.

"What happened? I heard gunshot," Shima rushed out as barged in.

"Someone tried to kill Kala," Tamaki said darkly. It wasn't what I expected at all. I thout he'd be flipping out and crying like I was, not mad. He really could be scary when he wanted to be.

"It was Ootori," I gasped. "Again."

"Again?" Shima asked.

"This morning a car bomb went off in the limo. Then, some crazy doctor attacked me in the hospital."

"Shima, call my father," Tamaki growled. "Tell him that Yoshio has been busy."

"Yes, Young Master," she said before leaving.

Tamaki arranged us so that he was seated back against the headboard, and I was between his legs. His head was on top on mine, and he was circling his thumb on the back of my hand. It was oddly comforting. The cut on my head had stopped hurting. I was pretty sure I had blood all over my face, but I didn't feel like cleaning it up.

"Tamaki, could you call over the club? I'd feel better if more people were here," I asked.

"Sure. Do you want Kyoya here as well?"

"No. Not right now. It's too soon. I just need those idiots."

"I understand." He walked into the kitchenette and made a few calls. Tamaki was weird when he was serious. That was part of the reason that I wanted the rest of the club here, he needed to be put back to default Tamaki. "They'll be here in a couple of minutes."

"Okay." It couldn't have been more than two minutes before two twin ginger tornadoes came rushing in and jumped on top of me. They both gave me a bear hug, and I felt slightly violated.

"What happened?" the starred twin, aka Kaoru asked.

"Yeah, we could barely get anything out of the boss," the other one continued.

"I was shot at. Bullet grazed my head. No big deal."

"It is completely a big deal!" Tamaki yelled. Finally, he was back to his normal idiotic self. "You almost _died._"

"It's happened before. Never with guns, but you get my drift."

Before any of them could respond, a wet, blonde flying squirrel tried to strangle me. Oh. Wait. That was Honey. Mori followed quietly behind him, stoic as usual. Honey was sobbing uncontrollably into my neck, which was kind of awkward.

"Are you okay, Ka-chan?" he sniffed after a minute.

"I'm fine, Honey. It's just a scratch," I replied. He nodded and got off of me. There was only one more person that needed to get here, and right on cue she walked in the door.

"Hey. I brought that first aid kit you asked for, Tamaki," Haruhi said.

"Thank you so much, Haruhi," Tamaki squealed , spinning her around. "I knew you wouldn't let Daddy down."

"As much as I'm sure you love molesting Haruhi, I'd very much appreciate it if you would let her give me a Band-Aid before continuing," I smirked. He paled and went into his classic spiel of how he loved Haruhi as a daughter and nothing more, and I just rolled my eyes.

Haruhi gave me a Band-Aid and some antibacterial cream, which was all I really needed. The bullet had really only bushed my skin, but at a million miles an hour, it broke the skin. Of course, after my quip, the twins had started teasing Tamaki. It was actually quite entertaining.

"Ka-chan?" Honey asked.

"Yes."

"You can h-have Usa-chan for a while. He'll make you feel better."

I was shocked. He was actually offering to give me his prized possession for a while. I looked up at Mori, knowing it had been his idea. His face as straight as ever, but he had a sort of mischievous glint in his eye. "Of course, Honey," I told him. "I'll give him back as soon as I get better, okay?"

"Okay…" He looked like he was about to cry and it sort of mad me feel guilty.

"Do you want me to call up some cake?" I asked. His face lit up, and he nodded his head vigorously. I laughed and reached for the phone. Nothing could ruin this moment. Sure, I'd just been shot at, but everyone was here and happy. But my best friend the universe had other ideas. I hadn't even dialed Shima's number when the door slammed open.

Kyoya stood in the doorway with a dark aura radiating off of him. He wasn't called the shadow king for nothing.

"I thought the vice-president should be present when the club met," he practically hissed.

"This isn't actually a club meeting, Ootori," I snarled. "I just needed a pick-me-up."

"What? Is life as an heiress more stressful than you remembered?"

"IT IS WHEN YOUR FATHER KEEPS TRYING TO KILL ME!" I shrieked. I hadn't meant to come off so harsh, but what he had implied with that last comment ticked me off. He was implying that I was spoiled and weak. That he was _better_ than me. He. Was. Not. I quickly regained my composure and said in a softer tone, "Really, Ootori, I though Yoshio was too old for three times in a day. Apparently I was wrong."

"Please, enlighten me on these attempts on your life," he smirked.

"This morning, a bomb went off in the limo that was driving me to the hospital. Then, once I was in the hospital, a doctor attacked me with a syringe. Then, I was lying in my bed, and a bullet barely missed my brain," I said calmly.

"How are you so sure it was my father?"

"I know of only one person that wants me dead, Ootori. Would you like to tell me of any others?"

He didn't say anything. He didn't have anything to say. I knew he knew his father was behind it. I didn't blame him, but he could be such a prick. He deserved to be pushed around every once in a while. Everyone else was awkwardly silent, waiting to see who would strike next. It was Ootori. How typical. He just couldn't let me have the last word.

"Maybe if you were more open to negotiation, he wouldn't need to resort to such measures."

"Maybe if his definition of negotiation wasn't taking over my company, I would be."

"He's just trying to do you a favor. You are just a teenager and a girl on top of that."

He did not just say that. I get Japan and tradition, but that gave him no right to insult me. If I was doing such a terrible job, why was my company still trumping the Ootori Group internationally? I did the only reasonable thing left to do. I reached up slapped him hard across the face. His head snapped to the side before coming right back and glowering at me. I glared right back.

"Don't you _ever_ insult me like that again," I hissed. He leaned down to my level and whispered in my ear the two biggest mistakes of his life: Make me. I jumped on him, and started hammering him with my casts. Normally, I use more speed than power when I fight, but my casts put the latter in my favor. I kicked him where it hurt and watched his face contort in pain. Then, I clobbered his head with my arm cast. I kept wailing on him until the rest of the club pulled me off of him.

Ootori looked beat up. His lip was split in two places and I could see bruises starting to form. I felt terrible. It wasn't his fault his dad was a cold jerk face. Besides that, I knew he was humiliated. He had his entire macho mindset and was beat up by a crippled girl that was a year younger than him.

"You should find the stuff you need to fix your face in the bathroom," I sighed. He gave me curt nod and closed the door behind him. It seemed like as soon as the bathroom door closed, the main door opened and Suoh senior came barging in.

"Kala, are you alright?" he asked. I nodded. "Yoshio has some nerve attacking my guest in my own house. I can't have you staying here all day like a sitting duck. You will take the placement test tomorrow. Security at school is already at its max. You should be safer there."

"Thank you, sir," I said.

"You're welcome," he replied before leaving. Again, as soon as one door closed, another opened. Maybe there is some truth to that old proverb after all. Ootori came out of the bathroom looking considerably better than when he went in. His glasses were correctly on his face, his hair was once again perfect, and the bruises didn't seem as bad.

"I believe we should let Miss Santorini rest, now. She has had quite the day, wouldn't you say?" The rest of the club nodded, and actually left. I, for one was surprised. I expected at least some resistance, but then again, Ootori could be scary. The only ones left were Tamaki and Usa-chan.

"Tamaki, can I ask you something?" I whispered.

"Anything."

"Can I stay in your room tonight? I don't think I could fall asleep in here, and I have my placement test tomorrow."

"Of course, princess," he smiled. "You can have the bed, and I'll sleep on the couch."

I couldn't imagine Tamaki sleeping on a couch, but I wasn't about to give up the bed. At least he was himself again. I couldn't stand an evening with Doom and Gloom Tamaki. He could be a Barbie doll with a name like that.

With the inevitability that I would be attending the great pink monster in the next week came another question. How in the world was I going to get into the uniform? I'd seen the yellow marshmallows before, and one wouldn't accommodate my arm cast. On the bright side, the dress would cover my leg casts quite nicely. When I asked Tamaki about the dress, he said that Mrs. Hitachiin was designing me a short sleeved version. That was okay by me. I could live with frills and lace, but I couldn't live with what was for dinner that night.

Tamaki had wheeled me down to the third dining room. What in the world a _second_ mansion needed _three_ dining rooms for was beyond me. It was the size of a normal dining room and held a normal six person table. Tamaki and I sat across from each other. A chair had been pulled away to make room for my wheel chair. We'd been talking when a server bought in our dinner.

"What is this?" I asked.

"A sushi platter and hot tea," he replied.

"And I'm supposed to eat the mermaid medley and hot leaf juice?" I asked incredulously. I had lost my taste for sushi after it gave me food poisoning when I was seven, and I just didn't like tea.

"Is there something else you would like?"

"Is a grilled cheese out of the question? I haven't had one in years."

"Can you teach the chefs to make one?"

"Sure. They would have had to learn eventually with me staying here."

Tamaki rolled me to the kitchen, and I exchanged friendly greetings with the staff. It wasn't hard to teach them how to make a grilled cheese. It really isn't a difficult thing to make, but it is so delicious. The melty and the crunchy and the greasy and the gooey always make my mouth water. My favorite food by far.

When my sandwich was done we were back in our previous seats. He was eating his sushi with chopsticks and sipping his tea intermittently. I, on the other hand, was shoving grilled cheese down my throat with my good hand and guzzling a pop through a bendy straw. There was no conversation. I hadn't eaten yet, and the more food that went down my throat the better. It took me all of fifteen minutes to devour three sandwiches and down five bottles of pops. If there was one thing I missed about being rich, it was the food. Always at your disposal and always what you want.

"We should get to bed, Kala," Tamaki said, breaking the long silence.

"It's barely nine. Why?"

"I have school and you have a very important test tomorrow."

"I can stay up as late as I want," I pouted.

"Alas, you seem to be mistaken," he smirked. Not just any smirk, mind you, an_ Ootori_ smirk. I really need to limit their time together. Then, he rolled me up the stairs and dumped me on the bed. I'd expect this form Ootori, the twins, or even Mori if the midget told him to, but not Tamaki. He was just too polite usually, that is. Today must've messed him up bad.

I complied and crawled under the covers. Tamaki's bed was huge. It was a California King. At least that's what I thought it was. I'd never gotten anything bigger than a queen. Tamaki changed into a pair of pajamas, but before he put his shirt on, I caught a glimpse. May I say one thing: Haruhi is one lucky girl. That's it. No elaboration. Like I said, it was a quick glimpse.

He flopped onto the giant, plush couch that was in a corner of the room. He covered himself with a quilt and turned off the lights with a remote. I could hear Tamaki's light snoring just minutes after we exchanged goodnights. I wasn't so lucky. My mind always races before I go to sleep, and with that test tomorrow, it was going at warp speed. Just when I thought I would be able to pass out, one terrifying thought passed through my mind: I couldn't write. My arm was still in a cast, and I was the farthest thing from ambidextrous there was. How I was possibly going to take the test kept me up for an extra few hours, before I finally fell asleep at two.


End file.
